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EXMORTUS
Necrophony

Nuclear Blast (2023)
Rating: 8/10

After a five year silence California neo-classical thrashers Exmortus return with their darkest album yet. Still retaining those Yngwie Malmsteen flashes, Necrophony boasts a harsher vocal approach and enough ripping riffs to cause whiplash.

There has always been a delicious crunch to the Exmortus sound and that crispness continues as the band opens up their sixth release with ‘Masquerade’, an instrumental that flickers with Gothic wizardry before bleeding into the equally shred heavy ‘Mask Of Red Death’ with its theatrical tirades and vocal rasps from the only surviving original member Jadran Gonzalez. This is stern metal spattered with tumbling bass lines, galloping percussion and those ever flowing brain scrambling leads.

From the viewpoint of a metal purist there is so much to like here; the general atmosphere is brooding even with such a nimble metallic display. Instrumental ‘Storm Of Strings’ (a cover rendition of new age artist Yanni’s song ‘The Storm’, which was based off of the great Baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi’s concertos ‘The Four Seasons’) epitomizes the opus as staggering melodies wash over you and provide a surprising amount of comfort considering their ability to bamboozle.

The riffs cascade like endless waterfalls of steel as melodic hooks are applied to the groove ‘Test Of Time’ where the fret work astounds. ‘Prophecy’ channels Ozzy Osbourne’s classic ‘Crazy Train’ with its cutting axe work, ‘Oathbreaker’ hammers and swirls and ‘Beyond The Grave’ zips with such ferocity. However, sandwiched between such a barrage is the majestic and epic ‘Darkest Of Knights’, a grandiose statement where each member excels to form a network of devious trails.

There is no doubting the talent and showmanship here, it just depends on whether you, the listener, can stomach an hour of such frenzy and fire. With less repetition and more darkened layers, Exmortus has returned with something decidedly more Gothic, like a neo-thrash Mercyful Fate only with extra dollops of nerdness. However, it works because it still remains a vibrant thrash outing, just one that doesn’t necessarily provide instant access to its contours.

Neil Arnold

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